[ad_1]
Update
By Agence France-Presse
Female genital mutilation rates among girls under 14 have declined sharply in most parts of Africa in the last three decades, according to an innovative analysis cautiously welcomed by aid groups.
The ancestral ritual of cutting or removing the clitoris of young women has been decried by defenders of human rights and women and can lead to many physical, psychological and sexual complications (AFP / File / Yasuyoshi, Bulletin of information CHIBA / MANILA)
The ancestral ritual of cutting or removing the clitoris of young women has been decried by defenders of human rights and women and can lead to many physical, psychological and sexual complications.
And yet, it remains widespread in parts of Africa and the Middle East.
Historically, FGM rates have been high in East Africa. In 2016, for example, the UN agency for children said that 98% of Somali women and girls had been cut.
But new research suggests that the practice has decreased over time in young children, the group most at risk.
Although still endemic in many societies, this practice is creating increasing stigma that prevents researchers from gaining a clear idea of the stability or reduction of female genital mutilation.
A team of scientists based in Britain and South Africa conducted the most sophisticated statistical analysis of FGM rates, covering 29 countries and dating back to 1990.
They drew on data from two separate surveys of nearly 210,000 children conducted for the Demographic Health Survey and UNICEF.
After combining the data and eliminating repeated cases, they found a "huge and significant decline" in the prevalence of female genital mutilation in children under 14 in many regions.
The populous countries of East Africa, such as Kenya and Tanzania, where FGM rates were low – 3 to 10% of girls each year – resulted in a clear downward trend in the prevalence of female genital mutilation. region.
In Eritrea, however, an average of 67% of girls were screened each year between 1995 and 2002.
"Public health priority"
The team determined that the prevalence of FGM among girls in East Africa increased from 71.4% in 1995 to only 8% in 2016.
"According to recent estimates, more than 200 million women and children worldwide have undergone FGM," said AFP Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Northumbria, in Great Britain.
"The prevention of female genital mutilation should be a major public health priority in countries and regions where the prevalence of children remains high."
Other parts of Africa have seen similar declines in FGM rates over time.
In West Africa, the decline was less pronounced but still significant: from 73% in 1996 to just over 25% in 2017.
But the study, published Wednesday in the BMJ newspaper, revealed that FGM rates in Middle Eastern countries – including Yemen and Iraq – had increased.
Naana Otoo-Oyortey, executive director of the anti-MGF Forward charity, who is not involved in the research, said the study would be "essential to provide information about the reduction the prevalence of FGM among 0-14 year olds ".
But she added that this was an incomplete picture, as in some countries new laws prohibiting female genital mutilation could simply prevent families from reporting the practice, rather than abandoning it altogether.
"It is essential that prevalence statistics be accompanied by a contextual and nuanced analysis of the changes in attitudes towards FGM in these countries," Otoo-Oyortey said.
"Challenge social norms"
Jamillah Mwanjisi, advocacy, campaign and media officer for Save the Children Somalia / Somaliland, without commenting on the study, said FGM remains a major problem.
"We do not have a clear law that says female genital mutilation is a criminal offense against children," she told AFP, without commenting on the findings of the report. 39; study.
"In Somalia, the political will needed to challenge social and cultural norms is lacking."
Mwanjisi, however, said she had witnessed a slight drop in the number of 15- to 17-year-olds who had been cut – from 98 percent two years ago to 90 percent currently.
This suggests that there may be a discrepancy in the data for female genital mutilation and that, if rates in the under 14 years of age fall, we may see a corresponding decrease in the overall proportion of females subjected to FGM. the procedure.
"The data provided in this study may not answer the question of why FGM rates have dropped," said Kandala.
"The attitude of mothers is probably the main factor, but to answer this question more specifically, it is necessary to continue studies and collect data."
[ad_2]
Source link
